Too bad I didn’t have this Glenn Foden masterpiece when I did the political cartoonist contest last week.
I think it’s better than my previous favorite of his (about the “private sector doing fine”), and it’s thematically quite similar to the famous “European lemming” cartoon from Ramirez.
One tiny correction, though. The Europeans aren’t socialists anymore. It’s more accurate to describe the policy in France, Italy, and elsewhere as cronyism, corporatism, or statism.
Though Thomas Sowell prefers to use an even harsher adjective when analyzing Obama’s approach.
What about providing some evidence that Obama’s making America more like Europe? Well, just check out the data from the latest Economic Freedom of the World annual report.
There are now six European nations that score above the United States, including two of my favorite places – Switzerland and Estonia!
It doesn’t justify his bad policies, but it’s worth noting that Obama’s merely continuing a bad trend that started under Bush.
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[…] Regarding European socialism, we have great (although technically inaccurate) cartoons from Glenn Foden and Michael […]
[…] P.P.P.S. There are several rather amusing Obama/socialism cartoons. You can see my favorites here, here, and here. […]
[…] P.P.P.S. There are several rather amusing Obama/socialism cartoons. You can see my favorites here, here, and here. […]
[…] States for decades. To see where that leads, check out these cartoons from Michael Ramirez, Glenn Foden, Eric Allie and Chip […]
[…] States for decades. To see where that leads, check out these cartoons from Michael Ramirez, Glenn Foden, Eric Allie and Chip […]
[…] absurd, Obama wants to copy their failures, as captured by these cartoons from Michael Ramirez, Glenn Foden, Eric Allie and Chip […]
[…] as this Michael Ramirez cartoon illustrates, we know where that will lead. Or take a look at this Glenn Foden cartoon. Different theme, but same […]
[…] The European Light at the End of the Tunnel […]
[…] as this Michael Ramirez cartoon illustrates, we know where that will lead. Or take a look at this Glenn Foden cartoon. Different theme, but same […]
[…] as this Michael Ramirez cartoon illustrates, we know where that will lead. Or take a look at this Glenn Foden cartoon. Different theme, but same […]
For some reason the drawing of the train reminded me of problems that Barack has had when trying to honor his promises about high speed trains. If only I could put my finger on the exact reason. Hmmm…
Anyhow, given the topic of European socialism and the imagery of the political cartoon, this seems like a fine time to quote the following passage from The Fascist Government of Italy by Herbert Schneider:
So, there you have it: Italian “social legislation and insurance” under Mussolini were “similar to those of other European states”. Might Germany, too, have been one of those states with a “uniform system of compulsory accident and sickness insurance”?
[…] The European Light at the End of the Tunnel […]
Sorry Dan, i’m your great fan from Italy but you are wrong about Estonia. Estonia was bailout by European Union (The entire EU is equivalent to 20.6% of GDP)
Look this links: http://rwer.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/factoid-of-the-day-the-baltics-not-a-textbook-example-of-austerity-guest-post/
http://www.progressive-economy.ie/2012/04/closer-look-at-estonia.html
Great cartoon.
It will not be a sudden “splat” collision, but rather a long wretched decline. Long through the lens of every day life that is. Precipitous in intergenerational terms. Likely a series of crises attributable to various red herring narratives that will distract from the true cause: The homogenizing effect of collective centrally planned economic activity and the flattening of effort-reward curves through democratically imposed redistribution.
Europe’s share of world GDP has already halved in the last forty years, and — consistent with an ever accelerating pace of everything human — it is scheduled to half once again in a mere twenty years. That is, of course, the inevitable, obvious and deterministic outcome of riding a one to two percent annual growth trendline in a world that is riding a five percent annual growth trendline. The relentless compounding of growth that lags three percentage points below the world average. So, FORWARD, copy Europe… to the valley of decline…
Do you see in the economic freedom time graph the inescapable vicious cycle at work? Not only is the decline continuing but also accelerating. The slope of that graph is already too steep to hold on to. Countries in that ranking cannot sustain top world prosperity for long. Even worse, there is little hope that the current depressed ranking will stop from declining even further. As you see the decline is accelerating…
But convincing voter-lemmings to shun attempts at using the electoral process to get their hands on other people’s wallets/work seems just as impossible as trying to convince humans to be altruistic. So conservatives will keep hoping that voters will eventually trade a “hand’s off my fellow citizen’s wallet” philosophy for higher growth that lifts all boats, while progressives/liberals will continue trying to persuade people join the altruistic “we’re all in this together — but will not even give five percent of my income to my own bankrupt cousin” fantasy to five percent growth rates that will forestall decline. Both efforts seem futile, so very few countries in the western world will escape the valley of decline fate. But cultural evolution with its many dead end branches and few successes is still at work, so a few countries will eventually escape and break through. So,
Stay mobile.
That personal advice is worth a lot more than any political posturing.
Reblogged this on Gds44's Blog.